Why the future is grim for Kishore Biyani

Most people find it difficult to walk away from what they have created.

They often hold on tenaciously, unwilling to let go of their brainchild.

In that sense, Kishore Biyani is an outlier.

India's retail tycoon has often taken pride in referring to himself as a "creator" as well as a "destroyer".

It's perhaps this detachment from his businesses that has always helped Biyani move on - whether it was from his denim manufacturing outfit, his readymade garment brand, Bare, or more recently, Pantaloon Retail (where he had a controlling stake) as well as Future Capital.

This ability is helping him rejig his business model, while disposing of some of the businesses and formats he created over the years.

His peripatetic nature may have fostered an avalanche of brands, but having burnt his fingers, he is now working fast to overhaul his existing business model so that his core retail operations become viable.

Until last year, his critics didn't quite believe that he would actually go out and sell assets.